A known apparatus and method are set forth in EP-B-0 819 381. Therein, poultry that is transported to the slaughter house is first stunned, then suspended by the legs, and conveyed further down the line for exsanguination, defeathering, decapitating, visual inspection of the outside, weight determination, evisceration, and veterinary inspection of the poultry carcass and viscera before it gets cooled, portioned, and refrigerated. The determination of whether or not poultry has arrived at the slaughter house dead or alive is merely mentioned in EP-B-0 819 381 as an example in a process which is actually concerned with providing a completely, or almost completely automatic performance of inspection tasks.